The Pakistan-New Zealand Trade Bridge
A Monthly Edition on Bilateral Trade, Business & Strategic Partnership
Author
Ammar Munir
A Relationship 120 Years in the Making
Setting the Global Context To understand why the Pakistan-New Zealand trade relationship has developed slowly, warmly, and well below its potential, it is useful to first consider where each country sits within the global trade and diplomatic landscape.
New Zealand is a small, highly open economy of about five million people and is among the world’s most trade-dependent nations. In the year to March 2024, dairy exports alone were valued at NZ$23.7 billion, accounting for 24% of New Zealand’s total export value. The country has signed comprehensive free trade agreements with China, ASEAN, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, and in 2026 singed Free Trade Agreement with India. It is also an active member of the CPTPP, the WTO, and numerous multilateral bodies. Despite its size, New Zealand plays an outsized role in agricultural exports and has built a global reputation for quality, sustainability, and innovation.
Pakistan is a very different economy a large, complex, lower-middle-income country of about 241 million people, according to the 2023 census, undertaking significant macroeconomic reform while holding substantial untapped trade potential. Textile exports reached approximately US$17.88 billion in FY2024-25, up 7.39% year-on-year and representing more than 60% of the country’s total exports. Pakistan is the world’s fifth-most populous nation, a nuclear state, and a country that, despite its headline challenges, has shown remarkable private-sector resilience in textiles, surgical instruments, sports goods, rice, and, increasingly, IT services. Between these two countries lies a 120-year relationship that has remained consistently warm yet consistently underdeveloped.
The Origins: 1903 and the First Connections
The British Empire shaped the earliest conditions for this relationship. Both territories, what
would become Pakistan and the already self-governing Dominion of New Zealand operated within
shared institutional frameworks: English common law, British commercial systems, a sterlingbased currency architecture, and imperial postal and telegraph networks that supported longdistance trade and communication. These foundations are more than historical footnotes; they
still matter today because they create a low-transaction-cost baseline for bilateral commercial
engagement. Businessmen from Lahore and Wellington can negotiate in the same language,
draw on the same legal tradition, and generally expect compatible commercial norms. That
matters.
1947: Independence and the Commonwealth Connection
Pakistan’s independence in August 1947 immediately established a bilateral relationship with
New Zealand through the Commonwealth’s institutional framework. As members of the newly restructured British Commonwealth, both countries shared diplomatic protocols, trade preferences, and the broader institutional network that supported them. From the beginning, the relationship was genuinely cordial. Pakistan and New Zealand maintain cordial and friendly relations, with both countries being members of the Commonwealth. Yet cordiality and meaningful economic engagement are not the same. For most of the first four decades after independence, the Pakistan-New Zealand relationship had the former without the latter.
Why the Relationship Remained Thin: A Structural Analysis
This context matters because the structural factors that shaped the past also point to what must
change in the future. Several forces kept the relationship more limited than it could have been:
Geographic distance and the absence of direct air links. At roughly 12,000 kilometres apart, with
no direct flights and complex transit requirements, Pakistan and New Zealand face genuine
physical barriers to the movement of people and goods that helps commercial relationships
develop organically. This contrasts with Pakistan’s ties to Gulf countries, where large Pakistani
communities and regular direct flights connect major cities every day.
Different economic orientations. New Zealand’s trade policy has historically centred on Australia,
the United Kingdom, the United States, and, more recently, China and ASEAN. Pakistan’s export
strategy has focused on the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Gulf
markets. Neither country has featured prominently in the other’s trade promotion planning, not
because of diplomatic friction, but because their commercial geographies evolved in different directions.
Scale asymmetry and market perception. Pakistan’s textile and agricultural products often
compete on price in markets where brand recognition is important. New Zealand’s premium
positioning in dairy and food has traditionally targeted high-income markets, such as China, the
European Union, and Japan, where consumers are willing to pay more. As a result, neither country
has seen the other as an obvious commercial destination.
Limited diaspora networks at the relevant stage. The Pakistani community in New Zealand has
grown significantly, from about 3,000 people in 2001 to circa 10,000 in the 2023 census. However,
it has remained small compared with Pakistani communities in the United Kingdom, the United
Arab Emirates, and Australia, which means the diaspora bridge has been less developed than in
those corridors.
What the First Concrete Trade Data Tells Us
New Zealand exports to Pakistan in 2004 were worth $24.4 million; by 2007 they rose to NZ$85
million. Exports from Pakistan to New Zealand were worth NZ$67.2 million. Bilateral trade
reached NZ$137 million as of April 2012.
This 2012 peak is significant. It coincided with the first JTC meeting and a period of active bilateral
focus. However, current bilateral trade remains in the range of US$57-90 million, depending on
the measurement used, suggesting that the 2012 JTC meeting delivered only a temporary uplift rather than sustained growth. Without consistent institutional follow-through, trade relationships
tend to return to their structural baseline.
What History Demands of the Present
The clearest practical lesson from this history is simple: warm relations and sound frameworks
are important, but they are not enough. The 22-year gap between the 1990 trade agreement and
the first JTC meeting in 2012 makes that plain.
- Institutionalise the relationship, not just the agreements. This means appointing named
officials on both sides with dedicated bilateral responsibilities, establishing a standing
secretariat, and creating automatic annual or biennial review mechanisms that do not
depend on political initiative to convene. - Actively build on the Commonwealth foundation. Commonwealth Business Forums, the
Commonwealth Trade Finance Facility, and wider Commonwealth institutional networks
should be used as platforms for Pakistan-New Zealand commercial programming,
rather than treated as passive background. - Learn from the 2012-2026 gap. Three JTC meetings in 14 years do not indicate sustained
momentum. The August 2026 JTC and Education Cooperation Arrangement mark a
reopening; the real test is what is built over the next 24 months. - Benchmark against comparable relationships. Pakistan-Australia bilateral trade data was not available in the public sources reviewed for this article. However, Australia shares New Zealand’s geographic position and many of its export strengths, making it a useful comparator for what the Pakistan-New Zealand relationship could become with sustained commercial engagement.
The Data Gap
Comprehensive bilateral trade data for the period 1947-2003 is not available through publicly
accessible databases reviewed for this article. MFAT NZ and Pakistan’s Ministry of Commerce
archives would hold some of this data. The absence of a reliable historical trade series is itself a
barrier to evidence-based policy design.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand%E2%80%93Pakistan_relations
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/2023-census-population-counts-by-ethnicgroup-age-and-maori-descent-and-dwelling-counts/
https://www2.tip.edu.pk/pakistan-textile-industry-overview-exports-challenges-outlook-2026/
https://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/research-and-commentary/rangitaki-blog/feuspecial-topic-outlook-dairy-exports
https://mofa.gov.pk/oceania
https://tradingeconomics.com/pakistan/exports/new-zealand
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistani_New_Zealanders
Author’s note:
All data in this and upcoming articles is cited with source and year. Where figures
differ between sources, both are acknowledged. Where data is genuinely unavailable, this is
stated explicitly. Readers with access to primary data that improves accuracy are encouraged to
write to the Author at ammar_engineer@hotmail.com or reach out on LinkedIn Ammar Munir